Beth Mead: ‘Not the ideal way to start a tournament’ 

Beth Mead expressed her disappointment as England lost their Euro 2025 opener 2-1 to France, in a lacklustre display in Zurich, Switzerland.

Sarina Wiegman’s side started brightly and had a goal disallowed early on in the first half, for a very marginal offside after a VAR intervention, but what followed was disappointing for the Lionesses.

An intense and accurate display from a French side who beat England in the qualifying groups en route to the tournament saw them score two first-half goals in four minutes, to leave England with more questions than answers.

“Obviously we’re disappointed,” Mead said. “The first game is a loss, not the ideal way you want to start a tournament. 

“I think we started the game off really well, we had a big chance in the first minute. I think unfortunately we didn’t continue that momentum throughout the game until maybe later on in the game when it was maybe a little bit too late for us.

“I don’t think [the disallowed goal] weighed on people’s minds. It’s just obviously frustrating seeing if it was close or even if it was offside that it was not given, which is very frustrating. But it’s part of the game and we need to respond better. 

“I thought we were in good stead at the time and football is a game of momentum and I don’t think we dealt with it very well at times today.”

France scored two goals in quick succession in the first half, putting England 2-0 down after 39 minutes and on the back foot, with Wiegman only making her first substitutions in the 60th minute.

The addition of Michelle Agyemang for the final 10 minutes of the game made an impact on the intensity and physicalty England were able to play with.

“There were personnel changes and we had a little bit more bite about us,” Mead added. “I think we’ve got to do that from minute one to minute 90 now. 

“I mean, the Netherlands game was already a big game as it was but now it’s an even bigger game for us. It’s a must win. We’ll analyse this game that we’ve just played, we’ll put ourselves in good stead and we’ll prepare the best we can for the Netherlands game.”

England face Netherlands in their second match of group D on Wednesday 10 July.